Thursday, November 17, 2005

Hyndai Investing Big Bucks in Green Machines

From New Zeland's National Business Review, news that Korean car maker Hyundai has made a big investment in green car development:

Car maker Hyundai has invested $US58 million in a new R&D centre for the development of fuel cell electric vehicles, gas-electric hybrid vehicles and end-of-life vehicle recycling technology....

The company said it aims to become the world leader in auto-related environmental technology.

Hyundai said it is investing heavily in next-generation green vehicles and environmental technologies with focus on development of core technologies for fuel-cell and hybrid cars and mass production of such vehicles, development of technologies for lowering gas emissions and improving fuel efficiency, enhancing vehicle recycling as well as investigation into alternative materials to ferrous metals, and development of technologies for lowering air/water pollution during the manufacturing process and for recycling waste materials resulting from energy production....

The centre was built using environment-friendly materials and processes such as vacuum toilet systems which in using one-tenth the water of a conventional flush toilet result in 1,500 tonnes of water savings annually; heating and air conditioning systems using heat pumps; natural light systems using solar reflectors; floors made of scrapped tyres; and electric power created from actual fuel-cell tests used during technology development that will result in a 1,000-tonne reduction in CO2 emissions.

I find it really exciting that news like this is becoming so common -- it looks like car makers worldwide are waking up to the profitability of building more sustainable personal transportation. Of course, we have to keep a close watch on all of them, but it's very encouraging to see that environmental protection has become an area in which these companies believe they must compete. Maybe we won't have to look forward to the elimination of the automobile... I'll sure feel better when we make next month's payment on my wife's Accent.